NOT LOVIN’ TRAVEL MUGS
Some Mcdonald’s won’t fill reusable coffee cups.
Attention eco- conscious coffee drinkers: reusable mugs aren’t always welcome at Mcdonald’s.
The fast- food chain, building its strong coffee credentials with the recent launch of its Mccafe brand, is sending out mixed messages over how receptive it is to travel mugs. Mcdonald’s Canada does not have a policy that bars its staff from filling up reusable mugs, but some stores are using their discretion to rebuff them.
This is putting the company offside with some of its competitors, such as Starbucks and Tim Hortons, which have longstanding corporate policies of offering small discounts to encourage customers to bring in their own reusable mugs.
“We were trying to get on the highway early and just dropped in for breakfast,” said Chris Windeyer about a recent stop at Mcdonald’s at the beginning of a road trip in Nova Scotia.
“We’re not religious about travel mugs, but we try to use them as much as possible. They just said: ‘ Sorry, we don’t do that, it’s policy.’ They didn’t explain why, and at eight o’clock in the morning, you’re not going to fight about it,” said Windeyer.
Company spokesman Louis Payette said franchisees are free to accommodate travel mugs, but some may not for a “myriad” of factors, including concerns over contamination.
“It’s about a whole lot more than food safety and basic hygiene, you know. We’re very particular about portion control, and again, what I’ve heard from other stores is that you’re not truly being sustainable if you’re using a paper cup to fill the right amount of whichever beverage into the reusable mug and then tossing that,” said Payette.
That’s what one of the Mcdonald’s restaurants does in Charlottetown.
“We usually just put it in the cup and they can pour it in the mugs themselves because the mugs aren’t always the proper size. They’re not the exact same as a coffee cup size, so we usually just put in the coffee cup and they can put it in their mug or we can do it for them,” said staffer Jessica Mcintyre. “No one ever complains about it.”
Over in Dartmouth, N. S., where Windeyer was rebuffed, the official store policy is to accept the mugs, but requires the employee to wash it before pouring the coffee to make sure it’s clean, slowing down service.
“We’re trying to do the best for our customers, and being a franchisee- led company, it’s difficult to implement something that is consistent and operationally sound,” said Payette.
Ottawa- based Bridgehead is no Mcdonald’s. But Gina Becker, marketing manager of the independent specialty coffee company that sells fairly traded coffees at its 12 Ottawa locations, has some free advice for Mcdonald’s.
“I would absolutely encourage it: it’s going to save money on the cost of their cup, whether or not they reward the customer to do so. And they’re doing a good step for the environment. It keeps our customers happier,” said Becker, whose company offers a 27- cent discount with a travel mug if they don’t use the company’s compostable cup.
Over at Tim Hortons, the iconic coffee company introduced its first Tim Mug in 1978 for customers looking to avoid disposable cups. Spokesman David Morelli says it’s company policy to pour directly into the travel mug but stir the cream and sugar with a disposable stir stick.
Lisa Borden of Borden Communications + Design, a Toronto- based marketing consultant specializing in ecobranding, says Mcdonald’s should develop a policy and give people an incentive to use a reusable mug, like their competitors. But what really irks Borden is the implication that it’s “gross” to use reusable mugs.
“The fact that they’re leaning on the health of their customers at all as an excuse is what completely outrages me because there’s nothing about Mcdonald’s that stands for health,” said Borden.